Media

In a keynote address yesterday (March 25, 2019), Apple’s Tim Cook mentioned that the newly launched News+ app is like having an “entire newsstand on your iPhone” and for cyclists he’s not exactly wrong. The new subscription app which charges users $9.99 a month for unlimited magazine viewing from at least 300 different magazine titles does include four cycling magazines in the mix: Bicycling, Bike, Canadian Cycling, Cycling Plus, and Mountain Biking UK.

While maybe not our first choices in cycling magazines currently, when coupled with other titles that we might be interested in reading like The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, The Week, et al. this new subscription model might not be all that bad of a deal, assuming of course, that spending $120 a year for magazines that must be read on an iPhone, iPad, or Apple computer is something you’re into. For more info on Apple News+ please click the link.

As is rather obvious by our hodge-podge of odd updates and seemingly random posts somewhat relating to cycling, we can’t figure out exactly what cyclists look for when it comes to online content, mostly because we don’t know what we, ourselves, want. We’re not down with the precious, condescending, fetishizations of Rapha podcast missives, nor do we much appreciate the other end of the spectrum at Bicycling Magazine. We’ll occasionally check out RKP for their road racing poetry, and sometimes read reviews on BikeRadar because they come up in our product searches.

Lately, we’ve been noticing the CyclingTips website coming up in our mix more and more and feel relatively positive about it. Can’t really say the same for PinkBike (it’s a blur of MTBing content that we’ve never been able to figure out), however, reading news that BikeExchange has offloaded CyclingTips to PinkBike makes us question a few things. Firstly, what is BikeExchange? Secondly, is consolidation in cycling media good? And finally, will this be good for us as mildly interested cycling media consumers? Obviously, PinkBike founder Radek Burkat believes it’s all good.

“We are excited to commit the talents and resources we have at Pinkbike and Trailforks to allow the CyclingTips team to grow and be the leader in road cycling,” said Burkat.

CyclingTips founder Wade Wallace is also happy about it, saying:

“We are thrilled that CyclingTips has come together with the Pinkbike family. We are confident that this partnership will result in a better product for our readers, members and industry partners.”

Guess we’ll have to wait and see. The entire staff of CyclingTips will reportedly stay with the brand. Thanks for allowing us to think out loud this morning. It likely won’t happen again for a while as we’re sure we’ll be too busy creating highly curated, stylized content for some other failing web property.

In a story posted on Medium today (February 7, 2019), Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos claims that Bike Magazine’s new parent company American Media (through its tabloid The National Enquirer) has threatened to publish photos of Mr. Bezos’ penis “as well as nine other images” if Mr. Bezos didn’t call the Washington Postoff its investigation of American Media CEO David Pecker’s relationship with Donald Trump, according to a story on the Huffington Post.

Here’s a little of what Mr. Bezos is claiming:

I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse. Or at least that’s what the top people at the National Enquirer thought. I’m glad they thought that, because it emboldened them to put it all in writing. Rather than capitulate to extortion and blackmail, I’ve decided to publish exactly what they sent me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten. . . They said they had more of my text messages and photos that they would publish if we didn’t stop our investigation.

Usually these stories that have nothing to do with cycling would be well outside our “lane.” But last week’s sale brings it all home to our world. Think about it? This suggests that those left at what once was TEN are now in a not-so-roundabout way working for the Trump Administration. We would imagine this might get some bicycle industry marketing asking themselves, “Do we really want to support Donald Trump by spending advertising and marketing dollars with American Media right now?”

We can say this for certain: if this is how American Media does business, then the people who had their jobs eliminated last week are the lucky ones.

American Media, the parent corporation of Men’s Journal, Radar, US Weekly and more famously the National Enquirer (you know, the company run by Donald Trump’s friend David Pecker) is reportedly purchasing all the action sporting brands from Bike Magazine’s parent company The Enthusiast Network. Employees were apprently informed today (January 31, 2019) during an all-hands meeting at TEN’s headquarters in Carlsbad, California.

Things may not be looking all that bright for current TEN employees. As one media executive who is not involved with either company told us, “I would assume this is going to be brutal. American Media has tons of debt, so I doubt they’re going to invest in anything. They probably see synergies and cost-cutting as a quick way to shape up the bottom line.”

According to a post on Transworld Motocross’s website (which has since been taken down) that magazine has been shuttered and similar things could be happening at other titles at TEN as well. Here is the entire note from TWMX’s Donn Maeda:

I founded TransWorld Motocross in November of 2000. At the time, the motocross magazine marketplace was crowded and we were the eighth title joining in on the fun. It was an exciting time, paired with my good friend Garth Milan and teamed with Revolution Advertising – a freelance agency that laid out the magazine – we built the foundation for what would become the world’s best-selling motocross magazine within only a matter of months.

It’s hard to cover all the highlights that I’ve enjoyed over the past two decades… there have been too many. We’ve produced over a dozen great motocross movies, successfully launched the largest local race series on the west coast…heck we even had a one-year stint helping produce TransWorld Motocross Japan. Most of all, the memories I treasure most are of all the places I’ve visited and the friends I’ve made. Watching racers I’ve met as mini riders grow up, rise through the ranks, and go on to be champions, has been a privilege…
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Today, our parent company was purchased by another media entity that sadly, has no interest in moving forward with TransWorld Motocross, in spite of our overall success and profitability. That said, our magazine, web site, and race series are on hold. I say hold, because the same group of dedicated editors and salesmen who have built this brand alongside me are still committed to creating the same great content. We are actively working on a plan to resume business as usual.
So, as cliché as it sounds, this is not a goodbye…it’s a see ya’ soon!

Oh, and if you’d like to read the official press release from American Media about their purchase, please follow the jump.

In cycling many (if not most) of those racing every weekend have little understanding of the single most important piece of their cycling equipment: their hearts. Most don’t think twice until something goes wrong: a flutter in the chest, or a racing heart that just won’t slow down at the end of a ride. The truth is, heart issues like these happen far more often than any of us would like to admit. Especially, for those over 35 who are chasing the dream of winning their next masters race.

“This book is the most comprehensive guide to the subject of endurance sports and heart health. It is filled with sound, practical advice. But it isn’t meant to frighten you into becoming a full-time spectator. We present the information as it is known at this time. What you do with it is up to you, though we certainly encourage caution and thoughtfulness.”

It may not have been meant to frighten anyone, but after reading all the studies, data, and hard evidence provided in The Haywire Heart it’s difficult to look at a 250 mile training week with the same kind of rabid enthusiasm we once did. The authors list a series of research studies that show that far from being rare, heart rhythm issues actually increase with age, with increased training, and with improved fitness. Some even suggest that the fitter you are, the higher your chances are of suffering from some type of heart rhythm disorder.

The Haywire Heart is intensely readable, informative, and necessary reading for anyone who races bicycles. Seriously. Click the link and buy it now.

In a new book titled How Cycling Can Save the WorldGuardian writer Peter Walker discusses the ways in which getting more people on bicycles can make the world a better place. Reducing smog and traffic and improving health are obvious, but Walker goes much deeper into the subtle ways cycling can improve nearly everything about urban life.

In a world dominated . . . by bikes, people can amble, children can play, fresh air can be breathed, conversations can be heard, all without our omniscient, noisy, smelly, lethal modern-day plague,” Walker says. “Cyclists are recognizably human, traveling at human-scaled speeds. As a benefits to urban living, that can hardly be overstated.

Help out the husband and wife team who toured the world for two years by bike and blogged about it on the site GoingSlowly.com, with their newest effort the book Bike, Camp, Cook. They’re up on Kickstarter begging for money and with 21 days to go they are only $2,500 short of their $11,500 goal. Yes, it’s another cookbook for cyclists, but this is no Feedzone. This is a cook book for the touring crowd. And it looks delicious. All they need in the money to print it. Click the link and help them out.

Garmin, the company that lets most of us know where we are and how fast we’re going, today (August 20, 2013) announced the launch of an action POV camera that is set to go head to head with the ubiquitious Go Pro. It’s called the VIRB and it features ANT+ connectivity that will allow for live sensor data recording right on the video. The VIRB is on sale today on the Garmin website for $299. Click the link for the official word.

It’s always nice too see a good crossover act. For years Jeff Curtes was the photographer responsible for creating the images that told Burton Snowboard’s story. Now, Curtes has moved to Australia and is beginning to shoot cycling. It’s something he thought he’d never do. Like many of us cycling was Curtes’ escape from his other life. Now he’s beginning to mix the two. Check out this Life In Focus edit from F-Stop for the rest of the story.

Last September man about the surf Dan Malloy (and friends Kanoa Zimmerman and Kellen Keene) rode his bike down the California coast line to check things out, catch some surf, and of course, create some multimedia masterpiece. In this case it is a book titled Fast Is Slow and a short film called Moving Pictures. Now Dan is touring California with the book and film and you can see both if you’re in the area. The Slow Is Fast tour begins in Mill Valley, California on August 2, 2013. For a full list of tour locations, follow the jump. [click to continue…]